Bartlett refers to Holocaust twice in two days

By KATE NOCERA

09/10/2012 03:46 PM EDT

Rep. Roscoe Bartlett had to apologize recently after his remark last week suggesting that federal student loans were unconstitutional and citing the Holocaust as an example of what happens when government heads down the wrong path.

Turns out, that was Bartlett's second Holocaust reference in two days.

A day before his student loan comment, Bartlett called the PATRIOT Act a violation of civil liberties and the “least patriotic thing” he had voted for in Congress. Ignoring the Constitution is a “slippery slope,” Bartlett said, before suggesting a parallel with Nazi Germany.

“If you can ignore the Constitution to do what you consider good things today, tomorrow you can ignore the Constitution to do bad things,” Bartlett said at a Funkstown, Md. town hall meeting. “More than half of our people in this country are of German descent. How in the heck – I know those people! How could the Holocaust have happened? These are the same German bloodlines that represent the biggest ethnic group in our country today. It’s just, if you start down a slippery slope, you could end up doing that kind of thing.”

The remarks were caught on video and shared with POLITICO by a Democratic source.

At a separate town hall meeting the following day, Bartlett called student loans worthwhile but unconstitutional, and cautioned that ignoring the constitution is a “slippery slope.”

“Not that it’s not a good idea to give students loans; it certainly is a good idea to give them loans,” Bartlett said, according to the Washington Post. “But if you can ignore the Constitution to do something good today, tomorrow you will be ignoring the Constitution to do something bad. You could. There are more people in our, in America today of German ancestry than any other [inaudible]. The Holocaust that occurred in Germany — how in the heck could that happen? And when you start down the wrong road, it can be a very slippery slope.”

In a statement to the Post, Bartlett apologized for that reference to the Holocaust. His campaign did not respond to a request for comment on his earlier Holocaust remark.

“While explaining my position on an important Constitutional issue I regrettably used an extreme example as a comparison that was ill-advised and inappropriate,” Bartlett said in the statement to the Post. “I should never use something as horrific as the Holocaust to make a political point, and I deeply apologize to anyone I may have offended.”

Bartlett, who has been in office since 1993, faces a tough re-election battle against Democrat John Delaney.